I am thinking of replacing one of my GTX 980s with a GTX 1080, mostly for artwork and 3D rendering. Due to the presence of other equipment in the box, I don't have room to run 3 GPUs concurrently, so one of the 980s will end up being set aside until I can build another machine.

But for me, folding is nearly as important as the artwork. At this moment in time, a 1080 for the art is only a "nice to have", and quite frankly, I could probably wait another several months before it becomes urgent. So it's kind of important to be sure that a "nice to have" 1080 won't break my folding.

Can anybody tell me if the GTX 1080 (plus drivers) is stable for folding these days, or is it still a "wait and see"?

What increase in PPD can one typically expect over a GTX 980?

Depending on the type of work units received, my 980s are currently each bringing in 350-400K PPD.

Sorry, skipped the thread because I don't understand how there would be a significant difference between a 980 and 1080 for artwork. Or rendering that would be sufficient enough to warrant the upgrade. That's not an area I'm familiar with.

Regarding drivers, the 1080 has been supported just as well as the 980 for awhile. The same bugs between NVIDIA's driver and the OpenMM software affected them equally and that's still being sorted out. Last I heard only the 1050's are having support problems. That said, you should eyeball those Titan X Pascals... will give you a taste of what a 1080 Ti should do when NVIDIA gets around to launching it in the next two months.

I may have been misinformed. The latest rumors flying around claim a Pascal refresh this year instead... hate to say it but it sounds more plausible than a solo 1080 Ti launch to tide over for a full year at this point. If I had to guess it'd be around June before that happened, if it's true.

With the previous generation, NVidia introduced the GeForce GTX Titan X based on the Maxwell GM200 GPU at then-record nosebleed prices in limited quantities, then followed it up with the GeForce GTX980Ti using the same chip with 8% of its capabilities neutered for 40% less money. Suddenly, spending $650-$700 on a graphics card seemed like a bargain! Since the current NVidia Titan X (same name, different product from the evil marketing geniuses) using the Pascal GP102 GPU has been on the market almost six months, we have not seen a graphics card with a more-neutered version of the GP102 GPU for a less insane price. If they follow the same money-making pattern as the last time, they'll knock off less than 10% of the chip's performance and cut the price to $800-$900, calling it a "GeForce GTX 1080Ti", even though it's a completely different GPU than the Pascal GP104 in the GeForce GTX1080.

If they follow the same money-making pattern as the last time, they'll knock off less than 10% of the chip's performance and cut the price to $800-$900, calling it a "GeForce GTX 1080Ti", even though it's a completely different GPU than the Pascal GP104 in the GeForce GTX1080.

That's the question. They aren't following their old pattern. The 980 Ti released one month after the Titan X. The 1080 will be a year old in May, so launching a 1080 Ti < three months before a new hardware launch would be the quickest way NVIDIA could piss off a larger number of buyers. But it's even less likely that NVIDIA will keep using the 1080 as a consumer flagship card for the remainder of this year. So I think there is some credence to the pascal refresh rumors.

I wouldn't care so much since the rumor mill is basically reading the tea leaves, except I'm sitting on a 750 Ti myself. For the cost of a high-end card I can fully understand wanting to invest in one at the right time, especially if planning to use it for more than five years.

Sorry, skipped the thread because I don't understand how there would be a significant difference between a 980 and 1080 for artwork. Or rendering that would be sufficient enough to warrant the upgrade. That's not an area I'm familiar with.

Double the VRAM would probably be the biggest advantage (technically more than double if you account for the weird VRAM arrangement on the 980). Also a big improvement to render times, although I don't think all GPU renderers support the 10-series cards yet.

My next graphics card will support VESA standard adaptive sync (aka "FreeSync") variable refresh rate. If NVidia chooses to support that feature with new drivers or with new GPUs this year, great. Otherwise, I will be very keenly looking at AMD's Vega.